Discover the Casentino

The Casentino is a green valley located in Tuscany, more precisely in the province of Arezzo, surrounded for the most part by the mountains of the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines that have always contributed to preserving traditional customs and traditions. The Casentinese valley is a territory full of places to visit, immersed in the tranquility and warm welcome of its ancient villages. The landscape of this beautiful valley is mostly hilly and mountainous, characterized by the intense green of the National Park of the Casentino Forests, in second place in all Europe by the forest, where many wild species live. like wolves, deer, fallow deer, roe deer, wild boar, hawks, foxes and a wide variety of birds.
If you are in Casentino there are some places that are really worth visiting. Our valley is characterized by numerous villages where you can taste typical local products and admire castles and works of art of absolute importance.
One of the most characteristic villages of the Casentino is certainly that of Poppi, an ancient village built on a hill from which you can see most of the surrounding area, on which stands the famous Castello dei Conti Guidi , designed from Arnolfo di Cambio, the same architect who designed Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. A short distance from the castle, along an attic village dating back to 1300, walking under a beautiful colonnade that runs through the village, you can reach Badia San Fedele , a beautiful Abbey in which there are the remains of San Torello, patron of Poppi. Shortly thereafter we can visit the historic center of Bibbiena, the largest village in the Casentino, whose ancient origins can be appreciated in various findings of the area. Its medieval villages, rich in history, lead to the discovery of various ancient buildings, including Palazzo Dovizi and Palazzo Martellini, as well as the famous Teatro Dovizi , still open to the public. The main square of the village, a large square, is dominated by a still functioning bell tower. On one side of the square you can enjoy an excellent view overlooking a large terrace of recent construction, while on the opposite side stands the church of Saints Ippolito and Donato, inside which there are works of Bicci di Lorenzo dating back to '400 and a painting of the' 600 of Jacopo Ligozzi .
Another historic center to visit is undoubtedly Raggiolo , a village surrounded by forests of Turkey oak and chestnut, entirely immersed in the green nature of Casentino. Raggiolo is a country where you can breathe an atmosphere of quiet and relaxation, ideal for spending a few hours in harmony away from the chaos of the city.
There are many other villages that deserve to be mentioned in this list that can not be exhaustive, such as the town of Stia , with its characteristic Piazza Tanucci and the Wool Museum, the Paese di Montemignaio , which dominates the valley in the direction of Florence, the village of Lierna , with its characteristic historical center, the village of Castel Focognano and various small towns scattered throughout the Casentino.
The area of ??the Vallesanta, unlike the neighboring valley designed by the stream Archiano, has a more impervious landscape, in which the small population centers are sometimes hidden and difficult to reach. For example, starting from Casa Bonucci, venturing on a path that sometimes retraces the famous Via Romea , you can reach the village of Serra, a place that in winter is completely uninhabited, but which has a small community during the whole summer period. Other neighboring countries have even been almost completely abandoned, mainly because of the industrial ascent of the Tuscan cities, where young people went to look for work and often ended up forming families and moving permanently. But after years, we are witnessing an opposite phenomenon, probably given by the fact that many people have understood the importance of the quality of healthy life that we breathe in our valley, and many young people decide to come back to live in these small villages . Eno-Gastronomic specialties
The Casentino is a valley full of culinary traditions, handed down over the centuries from generation to generation. In its villages there are many typical restaurants , where you can taste various local specialties. Let yourself be seduced by the first courses of handmade pasta , such as the vegetable ravioli, the potato tortelli or the delicious tagliatelle, seasoned with excellent meat sauce, with game sauces or with fine truffle of local origin . Savor the veal steak cooked "Florentine", present in almost all restaurants, cooked to the blood according to the dictates of tradition. Taste the typical Tuscan cured meats and the local organic cultivation products, perhaps accompanying it with the excellent red wine produced in the surrounding hills or in the nearby Sienese and Florentine countryside. Taste the famous Tortello alla Lastra , which in recent years has become the symbol of the village of Corezzo, winner of various national awards.